Killing shakes Rosemount's innocence

Jerry Peterson nursed a glass of cold beer at American Legion Post 65 in Rosemount on Thursday afternoon, contemplating life in one of the metro area's fastest-growing cities.

With the shooting death of 22-year-old Anthony Hartman this week at a town car wash and an arrest Wednesday in the case, Peterson and others are wondering if crime is destined to follow growth.

"It's an odd, freaky thing that happened," Peterson said. "Hopefully, it's not a continuous thing."

When he moved there in the 1970s, 2,500 people lived in Rosemount. Now, the population stands at 21,500.

The killing on Monday was just the second in the city's 152-year history. Coupled with a string of daytime armed robberies this year and a man charged with snapping photographs and cell phone pictures under girls' skirts at the town library this month, it has left longtime residents uneasy and public officials battling the perception of rising crime.

Business at the Car Spa on Canada Avenue, where the shooting happened, has slowed since the shooting, said attendant Scarlet Lund.

"People are afraid now," she said.

Lund estimated that 160 cars drove through the day after the shooting, but most were gawking and few stopped for a wash and vacuum.

"I can't blame them, because I was shocked," Lund said. "It was unreal."

Before the shooting, Lund couldn't recall even a minor scuffle at the Car Spa.

Authorities say that after Hartman stuck up for a friend involved in an argument, a man shot and killed him. The suspect, Jonas Gerald Grice, 27, surrendered at Burnsville police headquarters Wednesday morning. The Dakota County attorney's office may file charges against the Burnsville man Friday.

A question of safety

Jerry Little and several of his friends moved to senior housing in Rosemount to escape the hustle and bustle of larger suburbs. The group played nine holes of golf Thursday morning before taking in lunch at Shenanigans Pub on S. Robert Trail.

"Things are getting very aggressive" in Rosemount, Little said.

"It's a great place to live," Little said. "Then you wonder 'Why did [crime] come out here this far?'"

Despite the high-profile incident, violent crime was actually down 18 percent from the same period last year, according to state Uniform Crime Reports through June. The data cover serious crimes that range from rape and robbery to murder and assault.

"It's just the senseless nature of it and the shock of it," said Rosemount Mayor William Droste, a resident since 1989.

"We don't expect violent crime like this," he said.

As police chief for the past 12 years, Gary Kalstabakken has led the department during both of the city's homicides. The other happened in March 2008 when one teenager stabbed another. A dispute over a female classmate sparked the incident.

Despite Rosemount's rapid growth, fewer crimes were reported in the city in 2009 than 2004, Kalstabakken said. Total crimes peaked in 2007 and have declined since.

"It's really safe here," Kalstabakken said, "but it doesn't mean that crime doesn't happen, it doesn't mean that we don't have to take precautions."

Some longtime residents refuse to accept that the Rosemount of old is fading away, said Shenanigans owner Michael Herrmann. With the all the strip malls and new homes that have popped up in the past two decades, the former Irish outpost is now a full-fledged suburb.

"They want to pretend that they are smaller than they are," Herrmann said.

But "you can't really stop it at this point."

Peterson said he would normally take his black Geo Prizm to the car wash for a weekly rinse, but he's leery since the shooting.

"I'm always going to go down there with my gun," one of his buddies at the Legion Post chimed in.

Corey Mitchell • 612-673-4491